Springwood Sanctuary

Winnie - The Mystical Herd

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Winnie is a beautiful 16.2hh dark chestnut thoroughbred mare. She is the second oldest member of both herds. Winnie is 28 this year - her birthday is 14th April 1996. Winnie was rescued by Springwood in 2017.

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Winnie's past:​

Winnie was bred as a racehorse and raced for the first few years of her life. Like most racehorses she was weaned much too young and sadly put into training whilst still a baby - at just over a year old. Like most mares who have raced, she was then was 'put to stud' to be bred from. She had several foals who were taken away from her before they were ready to be weaned and whilst she was still nursing them so that they too could be exploited in the racing industry. Eventually after many years of racing and breeding she was unable to go full term with a foal and was therefore deemed too old to breed from further and so was cruelly discarded. The majority of ex-racehorses at that stage end up either being abandoned, being used for further exploitation (for polo etc) and often end up in an abattoir. It's a sickening end for horses who are used as commodities to make money. We took Winnie into the sanctuary aged 21, in October 2017, giving her a safe, loving, forever home. She arrived at the same time as Lady, Nelson and Crumpet.

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Winnie's health:

When Winnie arrived with us she had severe mudfever up her legs and very sore cracked heels, she was on high doses of pergolide for PPID equine cushings and was extremely depressed, which is a common side effect of this medication. She didn't interact much with the other horses or with humans and was very lethargic and timid, allowing herself to be pushed around by and fearful of the other herd members. Her thyroid gland regularly swelled up to the size of a large grapefruit and her coat was long, curly and slow to moult - typical of a horse with cushings.

Thankfully it only took a few days to boost her immune system and help her to recover from the skin sores and mudfever scabs with some home made herbal cream and lots of healing. Our wonderful homeopathic vet then prescribed a combination remedy for her ACTH levels and to help her PPID. Thank you so much Sonya Leggett! This worked miracles for Winnie and was exactly what she needed. After a short time her blood test results started normalising and we were able to reduce her pergolide medication which had such depressing side effects for this beautiful horse. In time, as everything had normalised, we stopped the medication completely but we keep a close eye on things of course. She hasn't had a swollen thyroid gland or raised ACTH levels for the past 5 years! Consequently her energy then returned to much better levels and she began interacting and bonding with the other horses!

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Winnie's relationships:

Her first love since this change was Cal - it was wonderful to see them grazing side by side and mutual grooming a lot. Winnie changed so much in health and wellbeing. She even grew a beautiful thick long tail and her coat has changed colour from bright chestnut to almost liver chestnut. She now moults normally and has a good summer and winter coat.

When we lost our darling Cal in July last year, Winnie started to bond even deeper with Bertie who helped her greatly with her grief. We then discovered that Bertie was Winnie's nephew - they shared the same father / grandfather - Macs Imp! Bertie and Winnie were inseparable and gave each other so much love and companionship. Due to this deeply trusting and loving relationship, Winnie found strength, confidence and resilience which enabled her to stop being pushed around by the others. It is wonderful to see her stand up for herself and hold her own in the herd. Very sadly and suddenly we lost darling Bertie very recently. We were extremely worried about Winnie and how she would cope with another big loss and bereavement. Our darling girl is coping ok and is enjoying lots of extra TLC. She has a regular routine of eating a big, delicious and nutricious bucket feed with Lady then grazing in and around the orchard and lake to keep her weight up. She often enjoys having deep REM healing sleep by lying down in the sunshine in the orchard too. 

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Winnie's life now:

Winnie is a gentle, wise, beautiful horse who is an integral member of the Mysties. She happily grazes with everyone. She is enjoying her life at the sanctuary with all the others who live here. The constant access to hills and meadows, varied foraging, shelters and herd mates keeps her happy and healthy.

Winnie, like Lady, needs a lot of extra feed throughout the year and especially so in the winter to keep weight on her. Winnie especially loves apples and calendula flowers and greatly enjoys massage, scratches and human company.

After such a hard early life which caused a lot of stress to her body and mind, she is doing absolutely amazingly being a fit and healthy 28 year old. As with all the animals at Springwood, Winnie will be cared for, protected, loved and respected for as long as she lives.

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It is our honour to care for Winnie and all the animals at the sanctuary. If you'd like to sponsor Winnie, we'd love to have your support to look after her. Thank you.